THE BRASCH FAMILYFilmfest 2018

Since the late 1940s, the Brasches have been the perfect family of party officials, living the German dream of socialism in the Soviet zone of occupation. Horst Brasch, a passionate anti-fascist, is helping to build an East German state which his wife, Gerda, won't consider home. Their son Thomas is a budding literary star. Like his father, he dreams of a more just world, but like younger brothers Peter and Klaus, he is critical of the way in which socialism has been implemented. As they do everywhere else, the generations clash in East Germany in 1968. Horst turns Thomas over to the authorities — triggering the end of his own career in the process. After 1989, socialist dreams of any kind are no longer of value. Director Annekatrin Hendel delivers a portrait of three generations of Brasches as a microcosm of societal tensions being carried out on a large scale — between East and West, art and politics, communism and religion, love and betrayal, utopia and self-destruction.

Born and raised in Berlin, Annekatrin Hendel studied design and was a freelance costume and set designer. In 2004, she founded the film production company IT WORKS! Medien GmbH. Since 2011, she has been a member of the German Film Academy. Her first documentary film for cinema, VATERLANDSVERRÄTER, had its world premiere at the Berlinale in 2011; it received, among other awards, the Grimme Award in the category of information and culture as well as the Peace Film Award at Filmfest Osnabrück. Her documentary ANDERSON, about Sascha Anderson, who was both a member of East Berlin's dissident literary scene and a Stasi informant, premiered at the Berlinale in 2014. FAMILIE BRASCH (2018) is Hendel's most recent documentary.